A 1988 Letter From George H.W. Bush To Dubya Shines Light Upon Trump’s Handling Of The Don Jr. Scandal

President Trump finally spoke publicly about his son, Donald Trump Jr., admitting that he met with a Russian lawyer with connections to the Kremlin in an attempt to obtain damaging information about Hillary Clinton. “I think from a practical standpoint most people would have taken that meeting. It’s called opposition research, or even ‘research into your opponent,” Trump said.

Unlike the Trumps, the Bush family sought avoid conflicts of interest and to keep family out of things during George H.W. Bush’s first run for President. In a letter written to his son, George W. Bush, the then-Vice President urges his son to not perform favors for people who ask him to contact a federal agency or department on their behalf because of how bad the perception would be:

“If there is a legitimate inquiry, call my office. It is certainly appropriate to contact your own government, but let’s do it through my office so no one can accuse any of the family of trying to use influence.”

Later Bush adds: “Every effort will be made to find some phone call, some inquiry, some letter that can be made to appear improper.”

Bush’s letter first started making the rounds on social media when the Trump family was receiving accusations of conflicts of interest, which shockingly have not stopped, particularly in regard to Ivanka, so it’ll be interesting to see what Eric, Tiffany, and Barron do in the future to also remind people of this letter.

Even though it remains popular to bash any Republican president, it is a mistake to characterize W as a moron. This is particularly so when you consider his conduct post-presidency, and even more particularly so when you compare it to other former presidents. So actually you CAN say that about W, but something else is prohibiting you from doing so. That’s on you, not him.